


second chance

by thequietcanadian



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Changing the past, Character Death, M/M, Time Travel AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-01
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-05-04 03:14:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5318336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thequietcanadian/pseuds/thequietcanadian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tucker had been through a lot. His best friend being an A.I? He could handle. Being impregnated with an alien? No problem. Losing his partner and best friend all in the same day? Not so much. faced with the chance to change the past? he could but he wasn't so sure that he should.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tucker had been through a lot. His best friend being an A.I? He could handle. Being impregnated with an alien? No problem. Losing his partner and best friend all in the same day? Not so much. faced with the chance to change the past? he could but he wasn't so sure that he should.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is based off of tumblr user papanorth's Tuckington Time Travel Au. if you have time i hghly recommend you check it out. please Enjoy :D

It wasn’t supposed to have happened this way. Wash was supposed to come back whole and uninjured. He was supposed to come back to Tucker. But do things ever go according to plan? Of course not and Tucker was paying the ultimate price for it. 

  
“Captain Tucker I think we should head back towards our main forces were outnumbered here” Tucker glance to the side to see who was talking to him and of course it was Paloma.  
“So what if were outnumbered we have fucking alien weapons Paloma, god I hate you” Tucker peaked over the boulders that his squad was currently hiding behind.

  
“Okay, on the count of three were going to take the two on the left out, the one on the right and the guy directly in front of us”

  
“Sir, shouldn’t we have someone covering us?”

  
“I guess you’re right, uh what your name was again, eh not important right now so we’ll have…”

  
“I’ll do it sir” Paloma said enthusiastically. Tucker stared at him for a minute.

  
“NO” There was an awkward silence between all of them for a moment before gun fire erupted in front of them.

  
“Sir we should hurry up I think they are about to come over here” said the solider that Tucker couldn’t remember the name of. Tucker sighed.  
“Fine”

  
“Thank you sir, I’ll have your back for sure don’t worry”

  
“I fucking hate you Paloma”

  
“On my mark” Tucker turned and got ready.

  
“One” he could feel his men tensing getting ready to jump out of their cover.

  
“Two” the gun fire from the enemy began to die down and almost completely stop”

  
“THREE!” they ran out from under their cover. Tucker went for the guy in the middle while the other two went straight for the ones to Tucker's left. His two squad members quickly dealt with their enemies, but Tucker hesitated when there was once a guy behind cover in front and on the right there was nobody.

  
“Shit, Paloma it’s an ambush!” Tucker turned in time to see that Paloma was being overwhelmed by the guys and some of their buddies they radioed over. Tucker knew he was in trouble and he knew he wasn’t fast enough to turn around and run for cover so he did the only thing that was logical. He shot at them. He got three of them before they could go for cover. From where Tucker was it appeared that Paloma was just unconscious unfortunately for Tucker. Tucker back pedaled to where his squad members were.

  
“Okay I’m going to go out there and you guys are going to cover me okay? Good” and with that Tucker once again ran out to the boulders. He shot one of the enemies and heard a shot go off behind him but didn’t feel anything. He quickly turned and stared in horror. Standing in front of him was Wash.

  
“Wash, what the hell! You are…” he didn’t get to finish before Wash’s body fell to the ground. Tucker swore he fired a shot at the man that were ambushing them then grabbed Wash’s shoulders and pulled him into a sitting position on the boulders. He pushed Paloma out of the way and heard a groan coming out from him. Luckily for Tucker, Carolina had seen what happened and had directed some of Chorus’s men over to them as more of Charon’s men were headed towards them. When Tucker was sure they were safe he gave Wash a quick glance over. Tucker could tell it wasn’t good. Wash’s breathing was coming out in short bursts and blood was pouring out of the wound. Tucker tried to stop the blood by pressing down on it with his hand but the bleeding wouldn’t stop. The bullet had Wash in the chest plate and Tucker came to realize that the guys that were shooting at them must have gotten a hold of one of the alien guns they had because no normal weapon could leave a wound this big. Tucker was internally panicking. He reached for his bio-foam hoping, no praying that it would help. As he went to apply it though Wash grabbed his hand. Tucker looked up at him and gave him a questioning look. Wash shook his head at him from side to side saying no

  
“Wash I know this will hurt like a bitch but trust me it’ll help” a clear lie Tucker knew and so did Wash.

  
“Tucker it’s not going to work, looks like I’m not making it out of this one”

Wash’s voice was just barely above a whisper. Tucker was in almost full panic mode but he tried to stay calm.

  
“Of course you will make it. Don’t be stupid, me and Carolina will take you to Grey and she’ll patch you up. You’ll be... you’ll be fine. Besides you’ve been through far worse”

  
“Tucker you have no idea where Grey is and even if you did find her, I’ll bleed out before you could get me to her”  
“Then, then we’ll radio her and tell her to come to us” Tucker knew he was grasping at straws but he had to. He can't lose Wash. Not after everything they’ve been through.

  
“She won’t get here in time Tucker” said Wash. Tucker tried to argue against his point but Carolina cut him off.

  
“He’s right, Tucker there’s nothing we can do. I’m sorry”

  
“You’re just giving up?! Both of you!” Tucker ripped his helmet off. He knew it was stupid and could get him killed but he was panicked and wasn’t thinking. The reality of the situation was finally setting in and he was terrified of losing him.

  
“Wash come on, you have to be alright. You have to...” Tucker tried to keep the quiver of fear out of his voice but failed. Wash reached to take his helmet off. He placed it to the side. Then looked at Tucker who refused to meet his gaze. Wash sighed.

  
“Look at me, Tucker there’s nothing you can do”. Tears started to fall from Tucker's eyes, not even trying to hold them back.

  
“No, no you promised, you promised!” Tucker was getting hysterical, you could hear the pain in his voice.

“I know I did and...”

  
“This is my fault! Fuck this is all my fault, I'm sorry, I'm-”

  
“SHUT UP FOR A MINUTE TUCKER” Tucker clamped his mouth shut and stared at Wash. Already he could tell Wash was fading, his face turning pale the light in his eyes fading. Wash motioned Tucker to move closer so he sat down and laced his fingers through Wash’s.

  
“First of all, this wasn’t your fault. I chose to take that bullet for you, and I'm sorry” Wash paused and took a breath. Tucker opened his mouth to say something but Wash glared at him.  
“I'm sorry for never getting the chance to meet Junior. I'm sorry for not being able to see this war to the end, and most importantly, for not being able to be there when you’ll need me” Wash took in a shaky breath before continuing.

  
“But I’m happy that I met all of you. Especially you Tucker. You showed me how to live again, you all taught me how to be a better person” Wash paused again.

  
“Besides, I knew there was always a possibility of me dying. Just promise me you’ll be okay without me looking out for you” Tucker shook his head sideways because there was no way in hell after all this he was going to be “okay”. There was no way in hell that after seeing his boyfriend die he is ever going to be okay again. Wash gave him a pained expression.

  
“Take care of Caboose alright? Look out for the reds too. Carolina, can you do something for me?”

  
“Sure thing Wash” Tucker didn’t miss the crack in her voice. Tucker knew this must have been so much worse for her, losing her only friend she had from project freelancer.

  
“Don’t take off again okay? Look out for these idiots for me because god trouble just seems to follow them, can you do that for me Lina?”

  
“Yeah Wash, I can, I can do that” Wash turned his attention back to Tucker.  
“I love you” Wash took on last shaky breath and then not another, his hand went lax in Tuckers hand. Tucker sobbed, he cried his eyes out, and felt the pain of loss radiate throughout his body.

  
“Tucker” Carolina said carefully as if speaking to a child. Tucker looked at her startled in his outburst he hadn’t realized that she was still there.  
“We have to go”

  
“I'm not leaving him here Carolina”  
“You have to” Tucker began to protest but Carolina continued before he could.  
“You can come back for him after, he wouldn’t want you to stay here it's too dangerous”. Tucker grabbed his helmet from the ground and stood up. He nodded at Carolina and walked past her. He didn’t realize it for a minute but she wasn’t following him. He turned around to see her kneeling by Wash’s body.

  
“What are you-“ he didn’t get to finish as Carolina strode over to him, she gestured for him to stick out his hand. He slowly stick out his hand, not knowing why she wanted him to do so. She carefully placed something in his hand.

  
“He want you to have them” Tucker stared down at his hand for a moment and nearly broke down again. In his hand on a simple chain was not only Wash’s dog tags but his and Tucker’s engagement ring. Tucker wore a similar one around his neck. It had only been a few days since Wash had proposed. Looking at the ring made Tucker feel empty, almost hollow inside. He put the chain around his neck and then under his armor. He then followed Carolina to his Squad.

  
“Sir, are you-” the squad member who came forward hesitated as he asked the question they all knew he wasn’t all right.

  
“I don’t want to talk about it”  
“Okay. Uh sir, where’s Paloma?” Tucker paused before he began to speak  
“He’s over by, by Wash’s, Wash’s body” Tucker choked out the words. His squad shifted nervously.

  
“Is, is he dead, is Paloma dead?”

  
“No he’s not just knocked unconscious, you guys go get him. I’m going back to the meeting point with Carolina, don’t die”. His squad nodded and began to move out. Tucker yelled out to them to turn around. They figured he was going to tell them to tell Paloma that he hated him like usual.

  
“Tell Paloma that he’s one lucky son of a bitch”. Tucker could tell that his squad was really confused but Tucker didn’t have it in him right now to be mean, even to Paloma.

  
They found the others fairly quickly and discussed about their plans. Tucker barely pays attention until Caboose finally realizes Wash isn’t here.

  
“Excuse me Tucker, where is Agent Washingtub?”

“Yeah. Where is he? I thought he’d want to be here for this” Griff adds ignoring Caboose. 

  
“He’s…gone” the reds stare at him for a minute as they process this, and Caboose uncomprehending. 

  
“When’s he coming back” Caboose asks. Tucker hates his childish ignorance at the moment, hates that he has to be the one to tell him. He begins to speak but gets cut off by Epsilon and was grateful.

  
“He isn’t coming back buddy” Caboose stares at Epsilon a moment and Epsilon continues

  
“Guys I know this is a shock but we have to finish this we have to beat Hargrove so can we get back to the plan?” there was a nod of agreement from everyone so they went over it more than once by Carolina’s insistence.

  
“Carolina we’ll be fine” Epsilon said.  
“Just making sure” 

  
“We really will be fine you know we’ll all make it back. I promise. Right Epsilon?” Tucker asked.

  
“Right we’ll…all come back” Tucker noticed the pause but didn’t mention it.  
They left and head to their destination. Not everything going to plan with Locus shooting Felix and Hargrove showing up. One thing lead to another and look there one Hargrove’s ship. They got trapped by his men in the ship, getting ready to fight their way out. Tucker stood waiting just like the rest of them for the door to burst open. Epsilon had strangely enough gone quiet after Tucker had spoken to him. After what felt like a lifetime the door finally gave away but Tucker didn’t see anything but a bright light.

  
"What the hell?" was all he could say as everything around him seemed to rewind. He watch as everything that had happened seemed to happen again but only this time in reverse. It happened slowly and then it sped up. Tucker could see glimpses here and there. Wash making him do training, Epsilon as a weird sphere thing, his days in the desert temple with Donut, and even back in Blood Gulch he took off his helmet thinking it was replaying old video files or something and time was still going backwards.“Am I dead?” Tucker thought to himself. He didn’t remember dying. Finally everything went white before Tucker was thrown into an unfamiliar surroundings. He looked around and found himself surrounded by a group of soldiers staring at him out of all of them only a few looked familiar and only two of them he could call teammates.

“Wash?”  
“Who the hell are you?”


	2. First Encounters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Either way I don't trust the guy. Not yet anyway, where did he say he was from again?"  
> "He didn't"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks to everyone who left Kudos and reviews it means a lot to me :D

Tucker was...more than a little confused. He briefly glance around the room and realize two things: one there was an assortment of people in different colored armor and two he have no idea where he is. Oh, and the two people who could probably tell him have no idea who he is.

"How does he know the rookie's name?" The voice came from his left from a soldier in yellow colored armor.

"Yeah how do you know his name?" Carolina's familiar voice asked but it was cold, well colder than it usually was and without the mild exasperation in it that she always seemed to have when talking to the Reds and Blues.

"Carolina, you and Wash seriously don't remember me?" The minute the words were out of his mouth, he knew it was the wrong thing to say.

"How do you know my name?" There was malice in her voice and Tucker remembers why he never should get on Carolina's bad side.

"Uh.." Tucker tried to quickly think of a good excuse before he very literally gets the living daylights beaten out of him.

"Cut him some slack C, he looks as confused as we are" the guy in purple armor moved closer resting a hand on her shoulder. Carolina shrugged it off. Tucker really wanted some answers, not only was he exhausted but nothing was adding up. The others as stared at him for a moment making Tucker feel really uncomfortable until the purple one finally spoke up.

"What's your name kid?"

"What's your name?" Tucker countered he seriously didn't want to say anything without knowing what was going on. Carolina moved towards him in a threatening manner and Tucker took a hesitant step back. The purple guy stepped forward hand outstretched and if Tucker didn't know any better a hint of amusement in his voice  
"Agent North Dakota".

Tucker froze for a minute remembering one of the nights he couldn't fall asleep and Wash had a particularly bad nightmare. He had those a lot but for once he told Tucker what it was about.

  
" he was one of my closest friends, North I mean and when The Meta killed him well I wasn't that stable to begin with Tucker" he had been silent not sure what to say he only had Cabooses accidental attempts at killing them to go off of.

  
" and the worst part is I don't even know if it was the meta, I... I think it might have been South his sister"

Tucker quickly outstretched his hand and shook the man’s hand realizing he needed to make this look as normal as possible and briefly looked around the room. There was another one in purple arms crossed looking as standoffish as Carolina. Tucker made the assumption that, that was south.

"Lavernius Tucker but most people just call me Tucker" the guy let out a small laugh. 

  
"Most people call me North" Tucker held his tongue almost saying that he knew.

"No offense or anything but what the hell is going on" as Tucker asked this he fiddled with his helmet. He really wanted to put it back on, he felt exposed without it. North glanced behind him and Tucker followed his gaze to see Wyoming standing there. Tucker didn't think he reacted. Faster than even he realized he could do it he grabbed his sword and activated it, immediately the whole room had their guns pointed at him. North raised one of his hands in a pacifying manner.

"You’re going to need to put that down okay" North said, just as Wash spoke in a voice of awe and surprise. 

  
"How the fuck does he have an alien sword!" The others shot him a glare.  
"Hell no not if he's here" Tucker tilted his head in Wyoming's direction and a thought crossed his mind making him grip his sword tighter. 

  
" and if the Meta's here I'm definitely not putting this thing away"

  
"Okay, well Wyoming over there is going to get out of this room and I have no idea who else you're talking about so he can't be here so just lower the sword" hesitantly Tucker deactivated the sword and placed it back on his armor piece. He watched as Wyoming left the room not taking his eyes off him once. He let out a audible sigh of relief. North ignoring this started explaining the situation to him.

  
“well you see Wyoming was messing around with his armor enhancement and gamma his a.i was helping him out you following me?" Tucker nodded he had a bad feeling about this.

  
"Well as he was experimenting with it Gamma seemed to put a bit too much power into it and we'll you kind of just appeared" Tucker looked at him skeptically for a moment but it wasn't one of the weirdest things to happen.

  
"Can you uh send me back to where I was then?" North put his hand threw his hair ruffling it and looked a bit awkward.

"See the thing is we don't even know where you came from and after what just happened I'm pretty sure the armor enhancement is going to need some repairs so it seems your stuck here"

  
" where exactly is here?" This was honestly the worst. He didn't know if any of the Reds or Caboose made it out let alone whether they had beaten Hargrove.  

  
"The mother of invention somewhere in the universe"

  
“and we're a part of "

  
"Don't tell him!"

  
"Project freelancer" Tucker's simple statement left them in stunned silence which Tucker guessed meant he was right. Which also meant he had gone back in time? This was getting weirder by the second and honestly giving him a headache.

"How do you know that" a female voice asked. Tucker knew he needed to make up a reasonable excuse without giving too much away.  
"Just rumors I heard from one of my buddies stationed somewhere"

“Not possible no ordinarily soldier knows about it" the one in brown responded.

  
"Well it's not like you guys are subtle on your missions you know"

  
"How much do you know?" Carolina asked. He was going to respond but was cut off by Wash.

  
"The directors coming!" Before Tucker could even begin to process what was happening he was pushed under one of the many computer desks. Then almost all of them stood in front of him covering his view with their legs. He gave a faint sign of protest which was quickly stopped by a quick kick to his shins.

"Would somebody like to tell me what is going on here?" nobody spoke. But Tucker could feel the tension in the air.

"Just going over strategy sir" Tucker thought he recognized the man’s voice it sounded familiar but he couldn't place it. The man paced from one edge of the room to the other.  
"I hope for your sake you aren't lying, as you were...strategizing the ship detected an extra life form on board, Wash I hope you didn't pick up another stray cat from your last mission" Tucker almost laughed at this statement. Wash do something against protocol, two minutes ago Tucker would have called bullshit but now he wasn't so sure.

"That was one time!" Tucker saw Carolina's weight shift slightly and heard a quiet complaint from whom he assumed was Wash. Carolina must have elbowed him. Tucker then zoned out from the conversation that was taking place and very, very quietly put his helmet back on. It was rather difficult as there wasn't a whole lot of room. With his helmet finally back on he felt a bit safer but wished he was in his old armor rather than the new one. Luckily for him he had enough time to transfer the video files from his old suit to this one. He hadn't yet figured out how to use the video in this new suit either. It wasn't exactly important though. Footsteps close by brought the situation he was in back to his attention though.

"If any of you see any one suspicious or out of the ordinary report it immediately understood?"

"Yes sir" came from everyone as far as Tucker could tell. He heard a door open and everyone seemed to drop their strict posture. He was then being pulled out from under the computer. 

  
"C.T can you hack into the main frame and add this guy to the database? Put him under Agent Alaska or something and low on the leaderboards so it's not as noticeable" North said to the one in the brown armor. The person nodded and left the room.

"So what the hell was that all about? Who's this director guy? And no offense or anything but I don't think hiding me as an agent is going to hide me very well and why are you all staring at me like that"

"It's the helmet man it looks like Maine's" Wash told him, Tucker rolled his eyes, but realized with the helmet on that wasn't very effective.

"Am I going to get any answer or should I just figure thing out for myself" Tucker asked in an annoyed voice.

"One we don't have to tell you anything, and two don't try finding things out for yourself I have a feeling you'll just get yourself into trouble" Carolina replied. North was about to reply but Wash beat him to it.

“The director doesn't really like anything unexpected and if he found out we were messing around with the armor enhancements well we'll be running a circuit for like a week and trust me when I say you don't want to be doing that it's killer, LITERALLY l think it killed Idaho and Oklahoma and-" he was stopped as the yellow one put a hand over where his mouth would be. Tucker didn't know how it worked as they were in helmets.

"Director is head of project freelancer and rookie you talk too much" the yellow one said while giving a pointed look at Wash.

"For now, hiding you in the systems is the best thing we can do, since Wash is the newest one of us and doesn't have a roommate yet you can crash in his room" North said.

"That's not going to work" Tucker had shared rooms with Wash in his time and the reality that he was gone was starting to kick in leaving him feeling hollow and empty. He figured sharing it with younger Wash, happier Wash wouldn't help him.

"Why not?" A disapproving voice from North and a sputtering whine from Wash and Tucker knew this would be an argument.

"Listen it's nothing personal but I just ..."

  
"You'll stay in Wash's room end of discussion Newbie" Carolina told him leaving no room for argument. He sighed and looked down he knew better then to argue with Carolina.

  
"Now that that's settled in going to actually go practice" with that Carolina walked off.

"Well uh I guess we should introduce you to everyone" North said awkwardly. Tucker gave a nod.

"In the purple is my sister South, yellow is York, Connecticut or C.T for short is the one in the brown armor who left earlier, Florida's the one in the blue and Maine's the one with white armor similar to yours but neither of them are here, and I guess you already know Wash and Carolina" as each name was listed off a hand was brought forward to in greeting a firm handshake from South, a lazy almost tired one from York and an over excited one from Wash.

"No offense or anything but would you mind taking off your helmet we don't really know who you are, we'll take ours off to if it makes you more comfortable" Tucker reached for his helmet he didn't want to take it off after just putting it back on but he didn't feel like arguing about it. He pulled it off then motioned for the others to do so as well.

York was the first one to take his off all though Tucker could tell he was hesitant about it. He had chocolate colored eyes and light skins and brown hair that spiked up. Tucker had to admit he was pretty good looking. With York's lead North and South both took off there's as well. Both had blond hair but South's went up to her chin and had very light purple highlights at the end. Along with this they both had pale blue eyes. Tucker wasn't surprised they were siblings after all. Wash was the last to pull his off. Tucker knew what he looked like or thought he did. His sandy Blonde hair usually so neat and short, was long and fluffed out in some places. His eyes usually so empty were filled with life. Most noticeably though was the fact that there was no bags under his eyes from sleepless nights and the small scars that were on his face weren't there. His freckles were also more prominent. Tucker took a sharp intake of breath. He wasn't used to it and Tucker at that moment realized just how much Wash must have gone through to be the broken person that he was. After a moment of staring. York coughed drawing his attention away from Wash.

"We know the rookie is good looking but please if you’re going to stare just take a picture it'll last longer" Tucker smirked at York's statement.

"Why you jealous, don't worry there's enough of me for everyone Bow Chika Bow Wow”. The room was quiet for a moment than everyone excluding Tucker burst out laughing.

"Damn it's going to be an interesting few weeks with you here" York said once he stopped laughing. Tucker smiled and laughed at that. He swiped some his hair back into place as it had been swept to the front as he had taken of his helmet.

"So you were saying something about a room? I'm kinda tired, long day mind showing we were it is? Tucker asked to no one in particular.

"I'll do it it’s my room anyways and I can show you around as we go, as long as the director isn't there anyways I don't know how far C.T's gotten in adding you in the database and -mhmf" York's hand was once again put over Wash's mouth a glare coming from Wash this time.

  
"Just take him to the room Wash, the guy looks like he'll pass out any second" Wash nodded. He headed over to the door and motioned for Tucker to follow him. Wash went to put an arm around him but Tucker flinched it off before he really got to. Tucker hadn't meant for it to happen and immediately felt bad about it as Wash gave him a rather sad look which he tried and failed to hide. Tucker just wasn't ready for it not after what happened to his Wash. He heard whispers behind him as they left but as the door shut they were silenced.

Back in the room the three freelancers began to talk.

  
"Is sending the rookie to go with him the best idea York? It seems to me he knows more than he's letting on" North said concern and worry in his voice.  
"No actually I don't but it's Wash's room and I could feel the excited energy practically radiating off the kid"  
"We should keep an eye on him, especially around Wash" South chimed in.

  
"I second that but we have to do it in a way Wash won't realize, I'll probably be rather upset if he thinks we don't think he can manage on his own" York stated. A nods came from both siblings.

  
"That bit he was spouting about hearing about us from a friend? C.T's right, even if they did somehow see us on a mission no ordinary soldier would recognize us or know our project name besides the Director and the counselor would cover it up as us being elite soldier or Spartans or some bullshit wouldn't they? His story isn't adding up" South stated angrily she clenched her hands into fists almost like she wanted to punch something.

  
"Unless" North stated. Both South and York looked at him curiously.

  
"Unless?"

  
"Unless he somehow came in contact with one of the sim troopers it's highly unlikely but it's a possibility they would be the only ones who would have ever heard of us or seen us for that matter" South crossed her arms over her chest.  
"Either way I don't trust the guy. Not yet anyway, where did he say he was from again?" Silence meet South's question for a second too long. North looked at York then to South before answering.  
"He didn't"

Tucker didn't know Wash could talk this much, in fact he didn't know he could even talk this fast. Tucker zoned out on more than one occasion and trying to follow which hall lead where was just exhausting Tucker figured once he got to the room he'd crash and figure everything out after words and have a quick talk with Epsilon.

  
"And on the left is the mess hall if you take one turn to the left and two to the right it will get you to the change rooms and then to the training rooms" Wash kept going and Tucker at least tried to pretend to pay attention. Finally after taking a ridiculous amount of turns they seemed to reach the living quarters.

  
"Across from us is North and York and down the hall on the left is Florida and Wyoming's  
I don't actually know who Maine's roommate is and the girls are in another corridor". Wash swiped what looked like a pass card and let them in. He started to show Tucker where everything.

  
"Okay so bedrooms are on the left bathroom is on the right and-"  
"Hey Wash mind if I have this place to myself for a bit”. Wash frowned but Tucker kept talking trying not to pay attention.

  
"I just I need some alone time. Understand?" Wash's face turned a deep crimson and realization dawned on Tucker of how Wash was interpreting that.

  
"Uh yeah totally I'll just uh yeah" wash stumbled over his words barely forming a coherent sentence.

  
"Dude chill, I'm not going to jerk off, it's just been a long day". If anything thing this seemed to make Wash blush an even deeper shade of red. Ignoring this Tucker began to gently lead Wash towards the door.

  
"Okay cool thanks for showing me around and what not, I'll see you in a few hours okay" he pushed Wash through the door, Tucker saw a confused look on Wash's face before he closed the door on him. He leaned his back on it and then slowly slid down the floor. He ran a hand across his face. Finally alone the events that had taken place caught up with Tucker. He let out a sob quiet at first but then soul wrenchingly loud. He cried in frustration for not knowing the outcome on Chorus, for his shitty luck at being pulled back in time but mostly in sorrow for losing Wash. After what felt too long to Tucker he pulled himself together. If Wash had taught him anything it was to keep moving forward and be prepared for everything. First things first, gather information.

  
"Church, I need you to tell me about the project. Come on man I know you're there". Tucker was met with silence. He gave out a frustrated sigh.

  
"You know you don't always have to be an asshole right I mean like- Holy shit" a green hologram appeared in front of Tucker's face catching him off guard.  
"Hello there Tucker, Epsilon knew a lot about you, I am Delta and you must be rather confused"

  
"No shit I'm confused, I'm in the past. Where the hell is Church I need to talk to him and how the hell did you get here"

  
"Talking to Epsilon is no longer possible as he is no longer with us." Tucker paused for a minute not comprehending his statement.

  
"What do you mean he's no longer here? I know he is here stop fucking with me"

  
"Tucker I can understand your confusion, but Epsilon really is not here, in order for you to be able to fully use the suits armor enhancements, A.I unit Epsilon had to fragment" Tucker sucked in a breath of air.

  
"W-what"

  
"No why, why would he do that?"  
"Although Epsilon never clearly showed it he cared for all of you especially Agent Carolina"

  
"Well you said he fragmented I'm assuming that there's more of you right? Do you have any of Epsilon's memories of Project Freelancer?"  
"Yes along with me is Theta, Omega, Sigma, Iota, Eta and Gamma and to my knowledge there is no memory in us at all, but I could be wrong"

"So I'm on my own in this"

  
"Affirmative"


	3. Lets Change The Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “We don't know, there's countless possibilities some good others not so much"  
> ...  
> "I'll do it then let's change the past".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey sorry it's been so long this chapter was really hard to write for some reason. Also the chapter after this might take awhile to be posted as well because i have exam's coming up so i'm really sorry DX. also words in italics are used when Tucker is speaking to the AI's in his head. Lastly if anyone gets the show I was referencing in here your extra cool XD. please enjoy  
> PS. I'm still new to the archive so if things aren't spaced out right on here let me know and ill fix it.

Wash stared dumbly at the door for a minute not fully comprehending what just happened. A loud sob brought himself back to reality. He looked with a lost expression at the door as sobs continued to be heard. Deciding that it was probably best to leave the man alone, along with Wash not being good at comforting people, he turned around and headed for the mess hall. Hopefully Maine, York or North were in there to give him something to do for a few hours. As he slowly walked there he put on his helmet as multiple questions swirled through his head. Who was this guy? Where'd he come from? How did he know about the project? And more importantly how did he know Wash?

"Yo rookie, don't think so hard I can practically hear you thinking over here." Wash looked up and blinked not realizing that he had entered the room. York and North waved him over and Wash easily complied.

 

"Abandoned the guy already Wash? Not like you." North said with a smile on his face. Wash shook his head.

 

"I think." Wash tried to remember what happened while his brain had shut down in embarrassment.

 

"I think I got temporarily kicked out." North and York looked at each other and then back at Wash.

 

"What do you mean, is he like." York made a jerking motion with his hand causing North to choke on the food he had just put in his mouth, and for a deep blush to creep into Wash's face once again thankfully being hidden by his mask.

 "No he's." Wash paused internally debating if he should let them know the man had been crying.

 

"Come on rookie if he's not having some fun what is he doing?" York asked a smirk on his face.

 

"Both of you have to promise not to say anything to anybody, especially the girls." Both men nodded at him.

 

"He was crying, I think, I didn't stick around long enough to ask about what". Both North and York were quiet for a moment. Leaving them all in an awkward silence.

 

"Well uh you could always go to the Sauna on the lower deck" York said after a while.

 

"I told you, I can't find it! I just can't find it! Why don't you just show me where it is by taking me there?" There was a gleam in York's eye that Wash couldn't place.  

 

"Come on rookie it's not that hard. Take the elevator down to the second floor, take two lefts, then a right, cut through the gym, then take two rights, then a left, stop when you see the equipment room and across from it is where it's at" Wash went to answer but York was already pushing him towards the exit of the mess hall. He swore he saw Florida shake his head at them but York was pushing him to fast for him to really see.

 "Good, okay see you later rookie!" If Wash would have turned around instead of continuing forward he would have seen North laughing his ass off and York joining in once he reached him.  

 

* * *

 

The hope that Tucker had in him fizzled and died in his chest at Delta's simple statement. All emotion left his voice.

"Is there anything you can tell me about the project D? I don't know anything about it other than the director was a total asshole and that it went to shit real quickly."

 

"And that it fucked Wash up... Real bad" The A.I didn't say anything for a moment which was starting to get on Tucker's nerves.

 

"There was multiple freelancers before Wash who received A.I implantations. I do not know the order. There is also three specific events that happen before things unravelled."

 

"Which is?"

 

"One, Agent Texas is introduced, Two, the sarcophagus incident and three, Agent Connecticut or CT's betrayal and death"

 

"How is any of those connected" Delta went to respond but another A.I appeared in front of Tucker blazing like a fire. Tucker had to rub his eyes at the sudden brightness of it and by the time he opened his eyes again the A.I was speaking.

 

"When Agent Texas arrived, Carolina became increasingly more competitive and as a result put many of her teammates at risk, the sarcophagus mission is the beginning of the end as it is what fractured the project and CT's death is what leads Agent Texas to leave the project and York and North's betrayals as well"

 

"It's not like that!" A burst of fuchsia entered Tuckers vision blinding him for a moment.

 

"Oh but Theta it is" the flaming A.I replied. The fuchsia A.I which Tucker now knew was Theta looked like he was going to jump the other. A sigh came from Delta.

 

"I thought we agreed I'd handle everything"

 

"No, you stated that you would we never agreed to anything" the flaming A.I said to Delta. The three began to argue, a cacophony of sounds coming from them. Tucker couldn't tell what they were saying but knew it had to stop if he wanted to get  somewhere.

 

"You three shut up! Honestly it's really not important right now. Delta is the flaming dude wrong or is that basically what happened"

 

"Sigma, did have it mostly right but"

 

"No offense D but if it's not super important I don't care" The A.I became silent after that. Tucker thought for a moment a plan forming in his head.

 

"I don't recommend that as your plan of action Tucker" Delta said.

 

"You can hear my thoughts? Why not? Nothing too bad could happen right?" All three A.I's looked at each other, and Tucker could have sworn he heard some whispers in his head as well but as quickly as it was there it disappeared. Tucker figured it was the other A.I's he had yet to meet.

 

"It could change everything! You want to change the timeline as we know it, one small change would only alter it slightly but a big one could change everything, you've done enough harm already just being here" Tucker stared at the green A.I for a moment. He had a feeling this was as much emotion he was ever going to get from him.

 

"How much"  

"What?" Theta asked, both Delta and Sigma stared at him in confusion as well.

 

"How much damage could it do? Are we talking on a scale of ending the war or like something else?"

 

"We don't know, there's countless possibilities some good others not so much " A gray A.I said he sounded familiar.

 

"Garry? You know what not important. But there's a possibility that most if not all of them get out of this alive? Right?"

 

"Statistically speaking there is probably a one in a billion chance that it could happen but the-"

 

"I'll do it then let's change the past". All the A.I's present stared at him.

 

"I don't think it's possible. Alpha tried it once before and no matter what he did the results were always the same" Theta said. Sigma and Garry nodded as well.

 

"Well what if that was a fixed point in time. I watched this show once about a guy who could like travel time and there was certain events he couldn't change but others he could, so maybe it's a case like that? Either way if it doesn't change anything then what's the harm in trying?"

 

"He has a point" two other A.I's appeared speaking at the same time. Delta seemed to sigh. While both Gamma and Sigma shrugged their shoulders. Theta did a fist bump in the air.  

 

"What do you want to do first then?" Delta asked. At that moment Tuckers stomach rumbled. He looked at the A.I's sheepishly.

"Uh dinner?"

 

"Before we go, I want to make a suggestion. I think that all of us should at the moment not be known to the freelancers, as it may cause... problems" the other A.I's were about to argue but Tucker gave a nod.

 

" I think Carolina would beat me if she saw all of you with me, but where will you guys go when I'm not talking to you and how will we communicate?"

 

"Well we're already stored in your helmet since you don't have neural implants for us to go into, but if you do take off the helmet it's likely we'll move into one of the armor's enhancements “Tucker gave a nod.

 

"As for hearing your thoughts well since the suit is connected to you, so are we in a way, so it's likely we will respond to you in your conscience" Delta finished explaining and with one last final nod Tucker put his helmet on and headed out.

 

* * *

 

Wash was exhausted. He had been searching for the stupid sauna for almost two hours and still hadn't found it. He turned another corner and crashed into someone. Both he and the other guy very ungraciously fell to the floor.

 

"Shit sorry, wasn't paying attention"

 

"No problem, can you show me where the dining hall is I'm starving and I've been looking for it for what feels like forever" Wash looked up and realized it was Tucker.

 

"Well for one thing, you're not even on the right floor for it maybe that's why you haven't found it" Wash said sarcastically. He couldn't tell because of the mask but he had a feeling the other man was giving him a strange look.

 

"Right well I'm going to go find it then" Tucker got up and then offered a hand to Wash. Wash took it and got up. Tucker turned around in the completely wrong direction to the elevators. Wash sighed. Might as well show him where they were.

"Tucker wait" Tucker turned his head and stopped.

 

"You're going the wrong way" Wash stated simply. Tucker seemed to think for a moment before he turned around and walked back.

 

"Oh my bad, this place should really come with a map, thanks by the way" Wash walked beside him.

 

"I might as well come with you got nothing better to do"

 

"Are you saying I'm something better to do because I am Bow Chika bow wow" Tucker laughed and Wash's cheeks became warm as a blush crept on to them.

 

"That's not what I meant and you know it stop laughing!" Tucker couldn't help himself he just knew that Wash probably had the brightest blush on his face.

 

_"Quite teasing him, it’s not nice" Theta said_

_"Dude come on him had it coming"_ Tucker replied. There was silence between the two after that as they walked to the elevators that would take them up occasionally Wash would turn a corner.

 

"You seem to know how to get around here well which is kinda weird cause it looks like there's not a lot for you guys on this floor" Tucker said after he was tired of the silence. Wash shrugged.

 

"I guess I've been down here a lot"

 

"Why is that? And why are you down here now" there was a moment's hesitation before Wash replied.

 

"I was looking for the sauna" Tucker stared at him a moment as Wash pressed the button for the elevator.

 

"Wait you guys have a sauna seriously?!"

 

"Apparently but I can never find it even though I follow North's and York's instructions granted they are different every time". Tucker burst out laughing once again. Leaving a confused Wash beside him.

 

"What?" Wash asked annoyance laced in his voice. Tucker doubled over holding his stomach because he was laughing so hard.

 

"There totally messing with you dude there's no way there's a Sauna on this ship" Tucker heard a quiet voice say his name in the back of his head but he ignored it.

 

"What space fleet made for highly trained fighters would have a sauna on it?" Tucker asked after taking several deep breaths he looked at Wash waiting for an answer.

 

"Uhhh a really good one?" Wash's voice had raised an octave becoming really squeaky. Tucker went to reply but a ding from the elevator alerted them that the elevator was there. Tucker heard Delta speak again and internally sighed.

" _What is it_?" He asked

" _What Wash was saying about a sauna is true_ "

" _Wait what?_ Seriously."

 

"Pardon?" He heard Wash say and Tucker realized he had spoken out loud. He quickly made something up.

 

"You should seriously get them back you know for fucking with you...I could help" Tucker didn't know why he volunteered to help but it was too late to go back now.

 

"Why you barely know me" Wash said. Tucker smiled under his mask. that's what you think Tucker thought. He shrugged trying to be casual.

 

"Why not it's not like I'm going to have anything better to do while I'm here so do we have a deal or no?" Tucker replied while sticking his hand out towards Wash. Wash stared at it for a moment then hesitantly shook it.

  
"Deal."


	4. Pranks and realizations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> first off i'm so sorry this chapter is so late but its longer then the last one so hopefully it makes up for it. Secondly I really enjoyed writting this chapter so I hope you guys like it. next chapter will hopefully be up faster then this one but im working on a few other things as well as this and have got school so no promises. Lastly a big Thank you to anyone who reviewed it means a lot to me. PS. Although its late this chapters dedicated to Monty.

It has been two weeks since Tucker had arrived on the Mother of Invention, and nothing notable has happened since then. Tucker had met Maine and although there was another incident with him pulling out his sword and trying to find a viable excuse for it. He walked on eggshells when Wyoming and Maine were in the same room as him and the freelancers had taken notice. They had tried to avoid as much contact with them as much as they could manage, and that was a relief for Tucker.  
But he had also noticed that they seemed to make up any and all excuses for him and Wash not to be in the same room alone together. If it was the morning and Tucker and Wash were heading out to eat, Carolina or North would appear. Trying to plan the prank on North and York, and North or York himself would appear. The only time Tucker and Wash ever seemed to be alone was in their room and even then people would be constantly knocking on the door.

Tucker was currently lounging on the couch with no armor on in their room exhausted. Since he was technically on the leaderboard, he had to train too.  
The door opened and Wash stepped through the threshold with his helmet held at his hip and a wide grin on his face. Tucker looked at the time and realized Wash was two hours too early to be here. He gave him a questioning look.  
"Just got back from a mission so they want me to take it easy till tomorrow which means..."  
"We can work on that prank." Tucker finished a wicked grin appearing on his face.  
"Okay so I was thinking...” At that moment someone knocked at the door. Tucker groaned in annoyance at this rate they were never going to get anything done. Wash looked at the door then back at Tucker. He pointed to the bathroom and put a finger over his mouth in the universal be quiet sign. Tucker gave him a confused look before realizing what he wanted. Another knock came from the door. As quietly as Tucker could manage he crept over to the other room, turned off the lights and hid behind the wall. He heard Wash answer it and North and York say hello in greeting.

"So rookie how was the mission, heard another car attacked you." York said jokingly.  
"Not funny York." Wash replied in a higher pitched voice than usual.  
"I thought I was quite funny, anyways newbie wanna come to the cafe for dinner with us? Tucker can come too." York offered.  
“I think I'll pass this time and make something myself. Plus Tucker's not here so you can go find him if you want." 

"Sweet, we'll stay and eat some of what you’re having. Your cooking is great compared to the cafes and I'm too lazy to cook myself." Tucker held his breath, he had a feeling the only reason they wanted to stay was to make sure when Tucker "got back" he wouldn't be alone with him.

"No." he heard Wash say and he could practically feel North and York's surprise.  
"Oh come on rookie, just this one-time"

"No, I'm tired and honestly don't want to put up with anybody right now so fuck off." Tucker heard the door slam shut. Tucker flinched he knew what it was like to be on the receiving end of that slammed door. Tucker left his hiding place and looked at Wash for a moment. Wash stared back before breaking the moment.

"So what was your plan? They're not going to bother us for at least another two hours." Tucker grinned and even though the A.I's in the back of his head said it was a bad idea he began to tell Wash what it was anyway.

"I was thinking maybe hair dye? Put some in his shampoo bottle or something, not the permanent stuff obviously cause that would be going too far. Also if that's not your thing we could take the powdered candy from the cafe and put it in the shower head he uses all the time."

"How about both?" Tucker looked at him for a moment before a smile lit up his face.

"Both? Are you sure? That might be going too far but it's really up to you dude". Wash gave him a firm nod before speaking.  
"We're going to do both but one on York and one on North since they both kinda fucked with me." Tucker laughed at how serious Wash looked while he said this, it still amazed him how serious he could be over such childish things. Wash gave him an incredulous look.  
"It's nothing really, don't give me that look. Anyways there's only two problems with this plan; one, I have no idea where we're going to get the hair dye and two, I don't know when we could swap the shampoo for the dye." Wash gave him a mischievous look and Tucker backed up a step.  
"I know where we can get the hair dye, and that second part won't be a problem either I got an access code to York's room, he needed something once and I just never deleted it from my files. So, come on let's go get that hair dye." Wash headed towards the door and Tucker just watched for a moment. He had seen this determination on Wash on more than one occasion when heading off into one of their crazy impossible plans.

"Snap out of it idiot, the freckles moron is talking to you" the invasive voice of Garry knocked him out of his musing.

"Sorry, what?" Wash gave him an impatient look.

"I said the coast is clear, you coming or you just going to keep standing there staring all day." Tucker went to respond but was cut off by a smirking Wash.  
"I mean, I know I have a hypnotizing ass but still we got shit to do." Tucker shoved him as he passed through the doorway for the jest. Throwing on his helmet, Tucker let Wash lead him down the halls, not having a clue where they were going till they reached the airship docks.  
"We're not stealing a ship just to get hair dye, are we? Cause there's way better reasons to get arrested for." All though Tucker couldn't see his face he knew Wash was giving him a please tell me you aren't serious look.  
“We’re not taking a ship dumb ass, we're here to talk to a friend."  
"How is this going to help with the hair dye situation?"  
"You'll see, come on" Tucker let out a sigh then followed Wash towards one of the bigger of the ships on board. A soldier sat on one of the box's outside of the ship. Wash raised his hand in greeting.

"Hey 479er what's up?" The person looked up and gave a nod in his direction.  
"Nothing much pylons, how about you?" Wash let out an exasperated sigh.  
"Pylons?" Tucker asked in confusion.  
"It's what I named the rookie after like, ten cars came flying at him on his first mission. That and when I was showing him how to pilot this baby right here he ran into every air pylon there was, he was the worst trainee there was of all time." 479er laughed at this and Tucker couldn't help but join in.

"I'm happy the both of you find this so amusing, but we did come here for something didn't we?" Wash asked this in a tight voice, obviously embarrassed to Tucker.

"Who's your friend here any ways newbie? A new recruit?"

“Agent Alaska, and yes but I didn't come here to introduce the two of you, I came to ask a favor." With this 479er gave him, her full attention. Her hands supported her as she leaned forward.

"Whatcha need rookie?"

"How do you know they’re going to have any, Wash?" He could feel both of them staring at him.

"What?" Tucker asked. Wash face palmed then turned to 479er making a pulling gesture around his helmet.

"If you wanted me to strip you could have just asked rookie" 479er said as she lifted her helmet off. Wash made an inaudible sound at this.

"Bow Chika bow wow". Wash raised his hands in the air. But then pointedly directed his look back to 479er. Tucker followed his gaze and let out a low whistle.

"Okay, sorry for doubting you." Tucker stared at the women in front of him for a moment taking in her blue and purple colored hair, thankful there wasn't any red. Tucker examined her hair for a moment taking in how the colors seemed to make her hair look like the setting sky.  
"Take a picture it'll last long." he heard her say sarcastically.  
"Sorry, it's just it looks really nice you know?" Tucker replied back to her sheepishly. The girl smirked at him and he started to notice her other features. Freckles were splayed across her face and her eyes were a pale blue, he recognized them for some reason but couldn't place it. He heard one of the A.I's murmur something about it but didn't quite catch it. It left him with a nagging feeling.

"Anyways, what's the Favor pylons." she said addressing Wash.

"I really wish you would stop calling me that but well you see we need some hair dye, the non-permanent kind if that's alright." she tilted her head as he said this.

"Why?"

"Wash wants to get back at that jackass, York for fucking with him" Tucker told her bluntly. Wash was left spluttering.

"Tucker!" Wash said irritated. Tucker gave a shrug.

"Okay, so what color then? I’ve been waiting to get back at that asshole since our last poker match. Just tell me the color and I'll grab it."

"Thanks 47. Umm about the color, how about..." Wash paused not sure what he was going to say. Tucker making a split second decision took the lead.

"Green and a bright one if you got it". 479er hopped off the box she was on and headed into her ship. Tucker could tell Wash was giving him a questioning look.

"It'll look hilarious with his armor color." Tucker lied. He heard delta make an irritated sound.

"Must you make it the same color as me?"

"Yeah D it will be hilarious" He heard Theta laugh in the background.  
"Well he's not wrong Delta." footsteps brought Tucker out of the conversation he was having in his head. The girl tossed it at him and he fumbled with it before catching it.  
"Thanks."  
"Anytime, if you need some more just ask."  
"Thanks 479er I owe you." she gave Wash a dismissive wave. Wash turned to leave and Tucker followed suit. Wash paused though and Tucker nearly crashed into him. Wash turned back around and Tucker stood there waiting for him.

"Hey 479er before I forget; how's your brother? You haven't talked about him in a while." At this Tucker perked up in interest, he rarely heard anything about the freelancers personal life. 479er deflated at this though.

"He joined the army, messed up the college building with the enlistment one, apparently." The nagging feeling Tucker felt earlier came back, telling him he was supposed to be remembering something.

"Oh, that's unfortunate, how about your sisters though are they okay?" a small smile lit up the woman's face

"Yeah, all 16 of them are fine." Wash gave a nod.

"That's good, by the way - don't tell York about this no matter what alright? In fact, we never had this conversation right?"  
"What conversation? Wash when'd you get here?" Wash turned back around and gave her an appreciative wave.  
Once in the hallways again with their loot in hand, Tucker spoke up.  
"So she has a big family then I take it?" Wash gave him an affirmative nod.  
"Yeah she's the oldest, 16 sisters and one brother. She never shuts up about him he's the youngest in their family, Michael I think his name is." Tucker froze for a second. No, there was no freaking way. But the more Tucker thought about it the more it made sense. He had recognized the pale blue eyes because Caboose had the exact same eye color and now that Tucker thought about it, he had mentioned having 17 sisters before.

“Is there a last name" Tucker asked casually looking ahead, if Wash thought it was a strange question, he didn't mention it.

"Uh Caboose I think? She's only ever told me once, man do we owe her one for this though this is going to be awesome." Wash continued to babble on for a few more moments but Tucker was caught in a torrent of jumbled thoughts. He was now certain that he had just met one of Caboose's sisters and Tucker was surprised as she was nothing like Caboose. Not only that but Tucker wondered if his Wash ever made that connection. He must have realized, Wash had been more patient with Caboose than anybody else he had known. Wash's words rung in Tucker's ears “we owe her one". He wondered if Wash even realized that he had payed off his debt to her by protecting her younger brother.

"You’re thinking too loud Tucker." Theta said bringing him back to reality. Tucker looked up not realizing that they were standing in front of the door to his and Wash's shared room.

"Uh, so what now?" Tucker asked lamely.

"You’re going to wait here while I change the bottles in York's room, him and North should still be getting dinner" 

"How about I don't wait here and grab the powdered candy and a bite for us to eat instead?” Wash gave him a reluctant nodded and both of them turned back around. Wash went in one direction and Tucker in the other. 

Tucker made his way quickly down to the cafeteria, pushing through the double doors he immediately noticed that there was very few people there. North and York gestured him over when he first got in but he ignored it in favor of getting in line for food. He quickly ordered his and Wash's food requesting it in a bag as he had no intention of staying there. He grabbed two handfuls of candy while she was bagging the food. Shoving it in the bag Tucker spun around and began to leave but was stopped by both North and York blocking his way. He looked up at them as both men were taller than him.

"Can I help you?" Tucker asked sarcastically. Both men glanced at each other briefly, that didn't go unnoticed to Tucker.

"Actually you can, you see the rookies not feeling up to company right now and we figured you could come and eat with us instead of bothering him." York replied.

"Don't care, I'm going back to our room you know the one we have to share." Tucker went to shoulder past both of them but York placed a hand on his shoulder drawing him back.

"What?" Tucker asked impatiently. York's hand dropped.

"Uh, we just thought you'd, you know leave him alone because he seemed like he needed to unwind a bit." York said this rather awkwardly and Tucker picked up on the hidden meaning. A devilish grin spread across his face. He turned around again walking away leaving North and York standing there. He paused at the door turning his head to look at them.

"Maybe I can help him then, Bow Chika bow wow." with that Tucker left laughing leaving a spluttering York and a flustered North in his wake. Once back at their room Tucker set the food down on the counter and waited for Wash to get back.

"Was it really necessary to imply that you and agent Washington have a more then friend-like bond?" Delta asked, appearing in front of him. 

"Well why not? It's not like it can do use any harm and besides it’s their fault for thinking Wash was jerking off in there"

“I suppose you are correct but the likeliness of them leaving you and Agent Washington alone again has been decreased by 20%" Tucker sighed and went to reply but the door began to open and Delta vanished before it was possible. 

"Mission accomplished." Wash said giving Tucker a thumbs up. Tucker returned the gesture. Wash closed the door and sat beside him on one of the chairs grabbing the food on the table.  
"Now we just got to get this stuff into the shower heads and we're good to go." Tucker said while gesturing to bag with the powdered candy in it.  
"I’ll do it when I go and take my shower. I usually get in there before York and North anyways."  
"Won't you need somebody to guard the door?" Tucker asked.  
"I guess?" Came his uncertain reply.  
"I'll come with you then."  
"Don't you usually shower after we all have?" Tucker gave him a nod in confirmation. They ate in silence after that. 

A while later, Tucker stood at the entrance of the men's shower room feeling rather exposed without his armor. A clean shirt lay with his towel inside on a bench. After what felt like forever Tucker anxiously looking up and down the hallway, Wash called for him to come in. Wash was already in one of the showers Tucker noted, he stripped and got in the one directly behind him. It was quiet other than the sound of the water hitting the floor that is until Wash turned around to grab something and noticed, the intricate tattoo on his back and the scarred tissue on his back.

"Wow" Wash said without realizing it Tucker turned around and glanced at Wash before continuing to shower. Tucker could feel Wash's eyes on his back and self-consciously touched the beginnings of the teal tattoo on his shoulder.  
"Is that Sanghilli?" Tucker heard Wash ask. Tucker inwardly sighed.  
"Yeah it is."  
"You know we are at war with them now, right?"

"Thank you captain obvious, I didn't notice." the annoyance in his voice was evident.  
"What does it mean?" This through Tucker off balance slightly as the why or what question he was expecting wasn't given. He was at a loss of what to say. He closed his eyes as a memory flashed by.  
Instead of the showers Tucker was in Wash's room in blue base gently calling his name. Wash had woke with a start breathing heavily and eyes filled with panic before landing on Tucker.  
“You okay Wash?" There came no reply for a moment. Tucker had shifted uncomfortably at the time and turned around to turn on the lights. From behind him he heard a slight gasp, it had taken all of 3 Nanoseconds to realize he was shirtless. He swirled back around facing Wash. Tucker hadn't recognized the calculating look in his eye at the time but he did now. Tucker was about to defend, the mark before Wash had asked his question.  
"That's Sanghilli right? What does it mean?"

Tucker was abruptly brought back to the present and realized that Wash was waiting for an answer.  
"It's a name, my..." Tucker paused at this before continuing.  
"My son's name at least the first part. The rest, well, it ranges from chosen one to the Greek letter Alpha." There was a pause and Tucker could tell Wash was battling his innate curiosity and giving Tucker his privacy. Curiosity won.

"You have a son?" Tucker gave a nod but realized Wash was still waiting for a response. 

“Yeah it's a long story, I'll tell it to you one day." The two of them were placed into a comfortable silence after that. Unbeknown to Wash Tucker brushed his hand over the tattoo over his heart. The one of the state of Washington. Tucker closed his eyes for a moment letting the water and another memory wash over him.  
"So you have one for everybody?" Wash asked skeptically one morning. 

"Uh huh, even the Reds."  
"Why?" Tucker stared at him for a moment and then shrugged.  
Abruptly, Tucker turned off the water in the shower. While Wash was still in his.  
"Meet you back at the room?" Tucker asked as he walked towards the bench with his stuff on it.  
"Yeah." Wash called from behind him. Tucker quickly dressed and started to head back. Tucker walked on autopilot back to the room. Turning a corner he ran into someone.  
"Oh shit sorry, I seem to do that a lot." the guy shrugged. He looked up and didn't realize who it was until he noticed the name on the sleeve of his shirt. He immediately backed up a step.  
"So uh I'm just going to go, yeah okay b-bye.” Tucker quickly went to retreat down the hall but was stopped by a firm grip on his shoulder. The man gave him a curious look.

"It's nothing personal dude but like I'm just going to go" He tried to shrug of the hand on his shoulder but couldn't. He looked back up at the man and Tucker cursed his genetics for making him so short. Maine continued to stare at him and Tucker finally caved.

"Look I know a lot of people who got hurt because of a person who looks a lot like you.” He paused making sure the guy was still listening.

"So, can you blame me for being just slightly cautious?" The man shook his head in understanding and released his shoulder. He gave Tucker a small pat on the shoulder and continued on his way. Tucker turned around to head to his room.  
"I'm sorry to hear that but I hope, we can be friends little man." Tucker whirled around but Maine was already gone.  
"I'm not little!" Tucker shouted hoping the other would hear it. In the distance he heard someone laugh. 

It wasn't long of Tucker being in their shared living quarters that Wash showed up.  
"Did you see Maine by any chance?" Wash asked as he threw his dirty Laundry into a pile by the door.

"Yeah, why?"

"No reason." Tucker raised an eyebrow at him but didn't question it any further.  
"So, how long should it take before we find out if the dye actually worked?" Wash glanced at the clock on the wall.  
"Everyone usually showers around 9:30 so by 10 maybe? It's 9:15 now so we shouldn't be waiting too long" Tucker nodded not sure what to do now. Luckily Wash did.  
"Video games?"

"Fuck yeah."  
"I'm great at super Mario 57 if you've got it."

"You’re in luck I actually do." Wash set up the holographic system and disk. Tucker stayed back and enjoyed the view.

"Are you staring at me?" Wash asked. Tucker quickly looked away and covered his smile with his hand.

"No." Wash quirked an eyebrow at him but said nothing as he handed him the controller. For the most part Tucker fucked around in the game and repeatedly got Wash killed. Each time Wash would let out a frustrated grunt while Tucker laughed. They were about half way through world two by the time. They heard muffled laughter in the hallway and shouts of annoyance. Both of them looked at each other before heading to the door and peeking their heads out.

"I swear to god I will find out who ever did this and when I do oh they are sooooo dead!" York practically screeched. North stood beside him a look of annoyance on his face as his hair stuck in odd places.  
"What happened to you?" South asked her brother.

"Somebody decided that it would be funny to dye York's hair an outrageous color and make me all sticky"  
"Why didn't you just shower again?"

"Because the water turns off at 10:30 and you know what time it is? 10:45. I have to wait until tomorrow!" Carolina and CT glanced at each other before giggles started to burst from them.

"It's not funny!" York said tersely this just made all the freelancers laugh. Wash and Tucker joined in.

“It kinda is." Wyoming replied after subduing his laughter.

"Come and talk to me when someone dies your mustache Reggie."

Carolina stepped out of the room threading her fingers through York's hair.  
"I kinda like it." York looked at her for a moment trying to figure out if she was being serious or not. A small smile was on her face and Tucker was positive it was the first time he had seen her smile like that. Tucker then gave Wash a high five. From behind York and North, Maine raised an eyebrow at Tucker and Wash. A brief second of panic filled Tucker before Maine gave them a wink calming his nerves.  
"Alright people show's over -go to bed- apparently the director has plans for us tomorrow." Carolina called out her posture changing and her easy going demeanor changing to a much colder and calculating one.  
"Like what? Another show of the leaderboard? For what to show off his favorites who cares?" Tucker noticed the agitation in her voice.  
“No apparently, we're going to meet a new recruit in the training rooms tomorrow so get some sleep." One by one doors were closed and Tucker and Wash retreated back into their apartment.  
"Night." Wash called from his room. Tucker did the same from his. He stared up at the roof for a long while. The waves of exhaustion soon coming over him and he fell into a restless sleep.  
He dreamed of the moments before Wash died and holding him in his arms as he bled out. It's your fault echoed in his head. A distant part of him knew it wasn't real, knew it couldn't be happening again but the rational part of his brain didn't seem to care  
The scene changed after that to his friends lay around him dead or dying and Tucker could feel himself panicking, feel himself being sent into a spiral of despair that he couldn't control. Then it went dark, the words of not good enough and incompetent circled in his head, he had failed at protecting Wash and he had failed at protecting his friends.  
"Tucker." he heard someone say distantly. The weight of despair was still holding him in the realms of sleep.  
"Wake up." he heard the voice say and thankfully he did. He surged up gasping for air a scream stuck in his throat. He breathes heavily looking for the source of the voice.  
"Another nightmare?" The voice asked startling Tucker he glanced over to the dresser and realized that Delta had manifested and woke him. He gave him a nod.  
"That's the third one in only the last week you know?" Tucker ignored him in favor of laying back down into his bed. He tossed and turned for a moment before getting up feeling to jittery to fall back asleep. He padded down the hall and stood in front of Wash's door for a moment turning on the hall light. After a few second of internal debating he pushed the door open and peeked into the room letting out a quiet sigh of relief. Tucker watched as Wash's chest rose and fell as he breathed. Tucker wasn't sure how long he stood there but eventually he was calm enough to head back to bed. He closed the door and turned back off the lights as he headed back to his room.

"Thanks D." Tucker said as he pulled the covers up around him. The green A.I materialized as he said this.

"It's not a problem, don't forget that tomorrow will be Theta's turn to wake you." Tucker gave a grunt in response. The A.I's had anonymous agreed to take turns to waking him after the first week of all of them doing it. Tucker didn't care either way but it was better than being blinded by 7 different light sources. 

In the morning, Tucker woke to silence which was unusual. Wash was usually yelling at him to get up. Tucker glanced at the clock by his bed and with a start realized it was two hours after Wash would normally wake him up. He scrambled out of his bed and down the hall to Wash's room. It was empty leaving a befuddled Tucker standing there. Annoyance of not being woken up quickly set in and he ran back to his room throwing on his armor as quickly as possible. He had just reached the door and went to open it when it was slammed in his face. 

"Ow." was his immediate response even though he had his helmet on.

"Shit sorry man I thought you'd still be asleep"

"Well I'm not and why didn't you wake me?"

"We were just meeting the new guy, and well since the director doesn't know who you are we decided it would be best for you just to stay here so I let you sleep in" Tucker glared at him but with his helmet on it was ineffective.

"Why'd you come back here then?"

"Oh I was just coming to get you, you see the director wants them to fight some of the rest of us and I figured you'd want to watch." 

"Well you're correct, who's fighting them?"

"I think York, Wyoming and Maine volunteered for it.” Tucker heard Delta start to speak but Tucker had a question of his own to ask

"Who's the new guy anyways?"  
"Agent Texas."


	5. It begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Is York trying to talk to Main and Wyoming?" Tucker asked. He got a shrug.  
> "Probably, but neither of them ever listen so there's no point," Connecticut replied.  
> "Hmm, well, there are going to have to work together to beat Tex or else they don't stand a chance,"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh my god you guys I'm so sorry this chapter is so over due its not even funny. school hit me hard and I couldn't work on it and then my friend who usually edits my stories took a really long time to get back to me so I'M SO SORRY. also i just want to say a huge thank you to anyone who left a comment because it motivated me so much you guys don't understand how much your feed back means to me so thank you T-T. also when Tuckers talking to the ai's I put it into italics as i thought it would be easier to distinguish when hes speaking out loud or in his head. A anyways please enjoy and comment please.

Tucker froze for a moment as he processed this information. If Tex was here already then things were going to happen a lot faster than Tucker initially thought they were.

"Hey, earth to Tucker? I'd actually like to see the new guy fight so are you coming or what?" Hearing Wash's voice snapped Tucker back into the present and Tucker tried to visibly relax.

"Yeah, sure Wash lead the way" Tucker distantly heard their bedroom door close as he trailed behind Wash. He walked on auto-pilot and the AI's in his head are making too much noise for him to actually hear what they were saying. They continued to increase in volume until Tucker could hardly think.

"Holy shit shut up!"

"Well I can tell who woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning” Tucker glanced at Wash not even realizing he had been talking and felt guilty for his outburst. More importantly, though he hadn't even known he had said it out loud. The AI's had surprisingly quieted down.

"Sorry man, I have a super bad headache. Guess it makes me a bit crappy today."

"A bit? You're acting like an ass but whatever," Tucker rolled his eyes then realized Wash wouldn't be able to see it. He went to apologize again for his outburst even though it wasn't intended for him but Wash started to talk again.

"Anyways we're here, this is the viewing deck obviously, they should start in a little bit so don't blow up on anyone else," Wash left before Tucker could respond. He let out an annoyed huff. North and South were already in the room when they had arrived but barely acknowledge his presence as they were to consume in what was going on in the training room.

"They started yet?" Tucker asked to no one in particular. A shake of the head from the twins gave him his answer. Carolina and Connecticut entered the room soon after that followed by Wash's reappearance. Wash threw something to Tucker and instinctually he reached to grab it. Looking down at it, he realized it was a bottle of pills.

"For that headache of yours," was Wash's only response before walking over to North and starting a conversation.

" _Look what you've guys done, he's mad at me now happy?"_ Tucker asked annoyance clear in his thoughts. The AI's were quiet for a moment. They were not sure if they should respond. But Tucker's annoyance grew as they quickly did.

 _"Sorry Tucker, with the arrival of Tex things will start to unravel rather quickly, we'll need to act quickly if you wish to change anything,"_ Delta said for them. Curiosity entered the link that was held between Tucker and the AI's before a question came to mind.

" _So this is one of the moments you guys talked about so what exactly do I need to change?"_  
_"Well, you see-"_

"Yo Tucker! It's about to start, are you going to watch or just stand there?" South looked at him curiously as she said it, feeling more than seeing that Tucker had clearly been out of it.

"Huh? Uh yeah sorry," he turned around and looked through the window that viewed down to the observation deck. Tex stood alone in combat position with a stick in hand. Wyoming, Maine, and York stood across from her with the air of confidence around them. Tucker almost snickered, man were they in for a surprise. He watched as the com-lady signaled for them to start and became watched in amazement at the spectacle happening below them. Tex wasted no time in knocking Wyoming to his feet by sliding the stick under his feet. Maine went to attack from behind trying to get the jump on her but she simply shoved her stick back into his chest and forcibly shoved him to the ground with it. While she was busy with Maine, York tried hit her with a blow to the chest. Tex had quickly countered it though and then kicked him away.

"Damn he's good, he doesn't fight like a new recruit either," Wash said in awe.

"What makes you so sure it's a guy? She's a girl," South said in a dry unamused voice. Tucker smirked at this and nearly laughed as Wash tried to fumble his way out of his mistake.

Now that Tucker wasn't on the receiving end of one of Tex's beat downs, he took a minute to admire her fighting skills. She was quick moving fluidly from one opponent to the next almost on reflex Tucker realized. Her style was brutal, leaving no room for mistakes and taking advantage of her opponents. Tucker realized with a start that, that was entirely what Texas was efficient and effective. With a start after this, he wondered when he had become so observant and knew almost immediately that it was due to Wash's ridiculous lessons. He felt a pang in his heart as he tried to ignore the memories that surfaced from the thought.

The round didn't take long to end after Texas' attack as Maine, Wyoming and York had failed to not once end up on the ground from Texas' attacks. Round two quickly started and with it came a new array of problems.

"Is York trying to talk to Main and Wyoming?" Tucker asked. He got a shrug.

"Probably, but neither of them ever listen so there's no point," Connecticut replied.

"Hmm, well, there are going to have to work together to beat Tex or else they don't stand a chance," Tucker hadn't realized how sure of himself he had sounded and had gained the attention of all the occupants of the room.

"What makes you so sure?" Carolina asked bitterness in his voice. Tucker still wasn't paying full attention though to engrossed in the fight.

"Oh because it-" Tucker clamped his mouth shut as he realized he was about to say it took the Blues and the Reds, working together, to stand any chance against her.

"Well, care to explain?" Carolina sounding venomous.

"Because it's obvious that she's better than all three of them alone. She beat all of them easily when they charge at her one on one and it doesn't look like they are doing much better since they changed to hand to hand combat," Tucker said shakily. The atmosphere in the room had grown considerably more unpleasant as Tucker spoke and he could feel Carolina's eyes on him as he turned back to watch the fight. He could see the others shift slightly too, to the shift in atmosphere.

"Uh, they are starting round 3 now, right? What, uh, is it?" Tucker asked trying to ease the feeling in the room.

"Paint round," the freelancers said in unison.

  
"Ugh I hate that paint," Wash said.

  
"Tell me about how it stings like a bitch," South replied.

  
"Turns your armor as hard as a rock," North added helpfully.

  
"I wouldn't know, not as bad if it doesn't hit you," Carolina said smugly.  
"Thanks, I'll try to remember that," Wash said dryly. Tucker went back to watching the fight. Maine and Wyoming had already been covered in it and stood frozen in rather uncomfortable positions.

" _Tucker, all though it is quite entertaining you are going to need to go help York near the end of this fight"_ Tucker's mind seemed to freeze in place at Delta's words, horror grabbing him and making his blood run cold.

_"What?! No way! She'll totally kill me, I thought she was a crazy bitch before but seeing this? Not happening,"_

_"Need I remind you that you're the one who insisted we change this time period,"_ Delta said impatiently.

 _"Time is running out Tucker, make up your mind on what you want to do_ ,"

 _"Don't listen to him Tucker, he's just worried about York right?"_ Theta said in a sympathetic voice.

 _"Worried about what?"_ said Delta.

 _"We don't know can't remember what happens here just remember the feeling"_ Sigma answered his voice grated on Tuckers nerves.

_"Okay, we'll do something. The only problem is how am I supposed to do it without getting caught?"_

" _You're more of an imbecile than I thought idiot, your armor is fully equipped with all the freelancer technology,"_ Omega replied in an irritated voice.

 _"Right. Well then tell me when I should leave here to go help him, I'll just wait here,"_ said Tucker

_"Trust me. You'll know,"_

Tucker started to wonder when it would be over, he could only watch the three of them get their ass kicked so many times before it became less and less entertaining.

Until suddenly it's not the paint being fired but live ammunition. Tucker's eyes widen a fraction before he realizes that this is probably when he should leave.

"What, are they using live rounds on the training floor?" Wash asked bewildered.

"Looks like it," South replied.

"But that's against protocol! They're going to kill her,"

"Probably,"

"Somebody should get the director,"

"The director? Who do you think gave them the ammo?" CT had no hint of regret while saying this, and Tucker stored that information for later, he had a feeling Connecticut knew a lot more than she was letting on.

"I'll be right back," Tucker said to no one in particular. It didn't matter though as nobody was really paying attention anyway. He slipped out the door soundlessly before starting to talk to the AI's.

_"So what exactly do you want me to do?"_

" _Well, in about three minutes one of those idiots is going to throw out a grenade, York's going to be stuck by the paint close by it, Agent Texas will thankfully try and save York but unfortunately, he still loses an eye, causing Agent Carolina's distrust for Texas,"_ Gamma was the first to respond to him and pushing down his immediate sarcastic response to him Tucker asked a question instead.

_"And how exactly am I going to stop that?"_

" _You idiot! You're in the suit equipped with all of the freelancer's specialized equipment. Use it!"_ Omega said rather harshly, Tucker paid it no mind as he practically ran down hallways.

" _All you have to do is be close enough to York in order for us to properly engage the shield for a fraction of a second. We'll keep you invisible while in the training room as well,"_ Tucker registered it as Delta talking this time as he came to the door of the training room. The AI's quickly opened it by hacking the ships system. Tucker ran into the room head first hearing the gun shots all around him. He stood close to one of the pillars trying to position himself where York was. As he peeked around one side of the pillar he was nearly run down by Maine who was currently flying through the air from a powerful kick from Texas.

 _"Damn that's got to hurt,"_ he thought. He heard Wyoming come up from the left rather loudly and York trying in vain to get him to stop shooting with the gun. Not surprisingly to Tucker Wyoming was quickly brought down. He briefly saw Texas and York talking before Maine disrupted them destroying the pillar he was hiding behind. He watched as Texas kicked all their asses again and then it had happened. Maine was locked down with paint but had still somehow managed to throw the explosive. Tucker saw York pitifully lying on the ground unable to move. Tucker stealthily avoided Texas as best he could as he avoided the paint shots. The next moment was a blur for Tucker as he watched as the grenade began to go off, instinctively he dove trying to cover York. He closed his eyes expecting to be blown away by the blast but it never happened. He opened them and stared at a perfectly fine York and discovered that the only part of him that hurt was the elbow he smashed into the floor. He hastily got up off the ground, as he saw the director and the counselor walk in along with the rest of freelancer. Panicked, he went to go explain himself before the director started speaking not once looking at him. With stark realization, he realized he was invisible to them. As quietly as he could he walked out of the training hall.

"Holy shit that was awesome!" Tucker then proceeded to do a little victory dance getting strange looks from passersby.

"Yeah it was!" Theta said with a childish glee. Unfortunately, their victory was cut rather short as he was grabbed and pushed into a storage room. Icy panic filled him as a knife was pressed to his throat against a break in his armor and he was pushed against a wall.

"How the hell did you do that?"


	6. Consequences

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey you guys I know it's been awhile and I'm super sorry for that. I've been busy the last couple of months I just graduated high school and there's been some family things I had to deal with but I'm back and hopefully I can get back on track with this :) Please Comment I'd like to hear what you guys think and I think someone said it was there birthday tomorrow? So Happy Birthday okay that's all and please enjoy.

Tucker recognized the voice. He had heard it only a few times in passing conversations.

"Connie?" The knife pressed slightly deeper into his throat, and Tucker relented. 

"Okay, okay! I'll tell you! Just remove the knife, makes it kind of hard to talk you know!" Connie removed the knife from Tucker's throat but didn't move from her spot. She folded her arms as she waited impatiently for an explanation. 

"Okay, so I know this sounds crazy but I'm from the future," Tucker paused waiting to see if Connie would do anything before continuing. 

"And you see a lot of crazy shit happening that basically fucks up me and my buddies and I'm trying to fix some of that!" Tucker heard a snort come from Connecticut's helmet before he was shoved back against the wall with the knife at his throat. 

"That is the worst excuse I've ever heard, of all time" 

You guys a little help? He swore he heard a grumbling in the back of his mind before Delta and Sigma appeared in front of Connie. 

"He is unfortunately not lying Agent Connecticut. Me and A.I unit Sigma are fragments of the previous A.I unit, Epsilon, which I assume you already know about due to your associates" Connie tensed further at what Delta finished with before addressing Tucker. 

"How does he know about that?" 

"Dude, we're from the future remember? We more or less know what's going to happen," she looked at him as if she had her helmet off. Tucker was sure he would see the skepticism in her face. 

"Listen, believe me, or don't believe me. Honestly, I don't give a shit but just don't kill me okay? That I do care about," 

"Killing Tucker would also not be in your best interest Agent Connecticut," said Delta as he began to speak but was cut off by her.

"As what?" 

"As Tucker has the potential to save your life," Delta finished. Connie's grip loosened on Tucker before she completely backed off. 

"Say I believe you, why didn't you tell any of us before?" 

"Because appearing on a ship with highly trained soldiers and telling them you're from the future is totally a good idea," Tucker said sarcastically. 

"I guess that's fair," 

"Fair she says, honestly a lot of you are as crazy as Wash and Carolina" Tucker knew Connie had to be smiling under that mask, he let out a sigh of exasperation. 

"So are you going to let me go or hand me into the director or what?"

"If you know I'm a spy why would you assume I'd hand you to the director? Tucker, you're a valuable asset for us and I think if you help me I might be able to help you," Tucker shrugged his shoulders. He is not really in a position to deny or affirm the idea. 

"Well, what do you need then?" He asked cautiously.

"What do you know about freelancer? If you have any information on what is going on her I need you to tell me," and so Tucker told her everything he knew, which wasn't a whole lot leaving out his personal relationship with Wash. Thankfully the A.I's filled her in on some of the stuff he didn't know about. As Tucker heard about everything that the director did or would do he became increasingly more angry not just at the director but at Church as well. He had kept all of this from them and they were suppose to be friends. 

"So that's everything then? That's actually really helpful. Thank you I'll pass this on, in the mean time just keep doing what you've been doing okay Tucker? I'll keep you up to date if we find anything else," Connie turned to leave the closet they were in before she turned around one more time.

"I'm glad Wash found you guys after everything that happened, you seem like... An interesting bunch," and with that, she left.

"Ha isn't that an understatement?" Tucker said to himself. He walked out of the closet. Heading for his and Wash's room.

"I have a feeling it's going to be really hard to keep this chick alive Delta," 

"Depending on how well the other two events turn out that may or may not be true, only time will tell. However, by the looks of it, things are already starting to change," said Theta.

"Theta, what are you talking about?" Tucker paused as he opened the door to his shared room seeing Wash on the couch. He thought he heard him say something but he was preoccupied with the pain radiating from his head. His legs gave out on him and he grabbed his head in agony. Images flashed before his eyes Carolina and Texas standing at the blue base, Texas with Church and Wash as they went to set off the EMP, Wash hugging both North and South Dakota at the base Wash killed South at. 

"Tucker? Tucker! can you hear me? What's wrong? Damn it!" Tucker faintly heard Wash talking to him as he came back to himself. The A.I's were frantically asking the same questions. Tucker groaned not quite sure what had happened either. His head is still spinning. He finally gains back his control and responded to Wash's questions.

"Mhm, I'm fine Wash," there wasn't as response and when Tucker opened his eyes he saw that Wash was no longer there. 

"Well shit," Tucker said as he sat up immediately regretting it. He leaned against the nearest wall trying to piece together everything he saw. The images blended into each other seamlessly and slowly he began to realize that they were memories but not ones he knew he had before. 

Almost parallel to them were the memories he originally had but he had a feeling that they were no longer true. He smiled to himself, he had started to do what he had set out to do and so far the future was looking at least a little better. 

"Did you guys see that?" Tucker asked the A.I's as they continued to panic in his mind.

"Did we see what?" Theta asked in an upset tone. Tucker went to reply to the other A.I's but he paused hearing an array of loud footsteps coming from the hallway. 

"I'll tell you guys tonight," 

"TUCKER!" Wash shouted from the doorway. Tucker flinched away the noise radiating in his head. He closed his eyes, trying to stop the pounding. 

"No need to yell, I'm literally right here," He replied sarcastically as he saw Wash, Maine, and York coming his way.

"You okay little man?" asked Maine.

"Maine, my dude I'm not little. Just height impaired and yeah I think I'm fine? Maybe,"

"Really? Cause Wash was practical, hyperventilating and babbling about how you were probably dying," 

"It couldn't have been that bad York, just a minor headache" 

"A minor headache my ass. You were withering on the floor in pain," 

"Wash honestly I'm fine... I just get really bad headaches sometimes okay, told you earlier didn't I?" Wash didn't look convinced and Tucker knew with Wash's stubborn streak that it would be a problem.

"Why don't we take you down to the med bay just to be sure?" Tucker shook his head causing a sharp pain to shoot through him. 

"It wouldn't hurt you know Tucker just to get it checked out just in case," York said worry laced in his voice. Tucker was about to argue before he felt himself being hauled up and a shoulder being thrown around him to help support him. 

"I'll take him," said Connie

"Connie, I think we can take him down... I mean," Connie narrowed her eyes at York, an unreadable expression on her face. 

"What you think I can't do it?" 

"That's not what I meant," York held up his hands in a placid gesture. Tucker couldn't help but smirk at the small argument taking place. 

"Just let her do it, I mean like she's already got me up. What's the point of arguing over who's going to take me... Unless you don't trust her or something?" There was a pause for a moment and the room itself seemed to be holding its breath.

"That's what I thought, Connie, come on I would like to be back here sooner rather than later," There was a moment of hesitation before she nodded, they had barely made it into the hallway before they were stopped again. 

"Wait I'll come with you," It was Wash, always Wash Tucker thought, he felt Connie stiffen beside him. He wasn't the only one to notice, though. 

"It's not cause I don't trust you! I do Connie really! But I just want to make sure he's actually okay," Connie seemed to relax after he said that but still seemed hesitant. 

"I'll be back quick Wash, well grab some aspirin then I'll be back here good as new. Just watch," Tucker watched as Wash chewed on the bottom of his lip in worry but he nudged Connie a bit trying to get her to back him up. 

"Yeah we'll be back before you know it. Just stay here okay?" Wash gave her a tentative nod before letting out a sigh. York clapped him on the shoulder. 

"You might have a harder time getting that aspirin then you think since Florida's allergic to it," said York.

"We'll figure it out when we get there," Connie replied to him as they walked down the hall. 

Once they had turned a corner and Connie was sure that they were out of earshot she stopped. She looked at Tucker wearily.

"We aren't going to the med bay are we?" Tucker asked. Connie gave Tucker a small smile before answering. 

"What was all that about?" 

"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure but I think and I really don't know but I think I managed to change some of my future, for now, that is," 

"So what does that mean for us?" 

"It means I'm doing the changing the future thing right I guess?" 

"And your little freak out back there?" 

"I don't have an answer for that one," 

"But we do," Connie and Tucker looked up to see not one but two A.I's hovering beside them one glowing gold and the other a cyan. 

"Uh, which ones are you again?" asked Tucker. The two exasperated sighs filled the hall, Connie let out a small chuckle. Tucker shoots her a glare before turning back to the two hovering A.I's. 

"I'm Eta," the golden one said.

"And I'm Iota but that's not important right now," The cyan one said, Tucker gave them a look and motioned with his hands telling them to continue. 

"You see we think that what happened to you is similar to what happened to Carolina and Wash," 

"What are they talking abo-" Tucker motioned for her to be quiet and Connie begrudgingly listened.

"You see, with so many of us in your head the memories overwhelmed you, you probably would have been fine if we weren't in your head. Maybe a minor headache," The two paused for a moment letting Tucker process what they had said before continuing. 

"The thing is, we think that it might happen again. Maybe even worse than before as you start changing what's going to happen but we're not quite sure,"

"So let me get this straight, possibly every time I change something important, my heads going to feel like it's imploding? That's just great," Connie couldn't help but laugh at Tucker's comment. 

"You're something else you know that?" Tucker gave her a smile at that before Connie turned back to him with a serious expression on her face. 

The information you gave me earlier, well it looks like you weren't lying to me after all," 

"Of course, you had me at knifepoint," 

"That's not important right now. What I'm about to tell you is," she waited a moment making sure she had his full attention before continuing. 

"In about a weeks time the director is going to send us on a mission to retrieve something called the sarcophagus, right after that I'm taking off, The Projects seems to be close on my tail," 

"So basically I have two weeks to figure out how I'm supposed to save your life?" 

"It appears that way Tucker," 

"That's great,"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So things are going to pick up a lot more after this chapter hope you guys liked it. Also I'm going to make a tumblr blog for prompts and thinks soon so look out for that once the next chapters out. Till next time bye!


	7. calm before the storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Maybe talk to North and York they seemed really concerned earlier and I kinda ignored them so..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey you guys I know its been awhile and i'm really sorry for that. i just finished my first year of uni and there's been some family stuff going on and both have kinda kept me from writing. second is I have two announcements. first off either today or tomorrow i will be posting the first chapter of a rwby fic that i've been working on inspired by convos with a friend i have. second is i'm opening up a tumblr for prompts and to post some doodles every now and then so find me under thequietcanadian. thanks for the support and patience and please read and review

It had been nearly one week since Connie had told Tucker about the freelancer mission. Enough time for him to think over what he could do to save her which wasn't a whole lot. Currently, Tucker was staring up at the ceiling in his room, thinking about the earlier conversation he and Delta had that day.

"No,"

"Come on Delta what could possibly go wrong?"

"Surprisingly a lot of things. Not to mention this isn't one of the things you need to change,"

"But if I did-"

"Then you could change too much and make it nearly impossible for us to tell what the future will be like Tucker,"

He had less than 24 hours to decide if he was going to somehow help on this freelancer mission. Wash had told him a little about it in the future. Not much just that Maine had gotten seriously injured and that afterward he was given Sigma in order to communicate with the rest of them.Which wasn't a whole lot to go on and Delta was extremely insistent that they not change anything they didn’t have too. Tucker rolled over on his bed staring at the doorway leading into the living room. He shut his eyes trying to get to sleep. Eventually the low buzz from the ship slowly lulled him into sleep.

However, Tuckers' sleep wasn't peaceful. Words and regrets swarmed around him, playing on every fear he had. They followed him no matter what happened in his dream. At first, it was of losing his friends because he wasn't strong enough to save them, then the deaths of his team because he wasn't smart enough to lead them out of danger when he could have and of watching Wash die in his arms. Tucker swore he could feel all the pain, fear and anger coming from them.

"I'm sorry," he said to all of them as tears trailed down his face.

"This is my fault! I'm sorry!"

"Tucker," the swarm of people grabbed onto him leaving traces of bloody hand prints onto the places they touched. They all looked at accusingly up at him.

"Tucker wake up!" Tucker jolted upright, breathing heavily and trying to get his bearings. His eyes landed on Wash, he grabbed him pulling him into a tight hug.

"Thank god," Tucker's body shook still plagued by nightmares.

"I thought..." Tucker's body stiffened and he let go of Wash almost immediately realizing where he was.

"You thought what?" Wash asked him tilting his head a little.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it, why are you in my room?"

"Woke up to get a glass of water and I heard you yelling in your sleep, thought I should wake you up,"

"Thanks for that," they stayed in silence for a long time neither really knowing what to say.

"Does that happen often?" Wash finally asked after a while.

"Does what happen often?" Tucker asked tiredly, he could feel the exhaustion from his nightmares catching up to him.

"The nightmares," "Yeah," Wash looked at Tucker thoughtfully.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Tucker shrugged not looking at Wash.

"You'll wake me up next time it happens though? Since I've already seen you like this and if you don't want anyone to know about them it's cool I won't say anything and I'm rambling, aren't I?” Tucker let out a small laugh easing them both out of the awkward atmosphere.

"I... no... To be honest I probably won't," There was a pause before Wash replied.

"I guess I'll just have to stay up later than usual then,"

"Wash,"

"We're friends, right? Friends don't let other friends wake up scared and alone"

"You're so stubborn Wash," Tucker said giving him a crooked grin which Wash returned with his own.

"Now that that's settled move over,"

"Wait what? Why?" Tucker asked bewilderment and confusion in his voice.

"You just woke up screaming in your sleep do you really think I'm just going to leave you here?"

"Uh yeah dude I do," "Well sucks cause I'm not, so move over or I'll just lie on the floor till you feel bad about it," Tucker let out a sigh and moved over. Given the bed was tiny it didn't do much. Wash climbed in and drew Tucker close to him.

"Hey, what are you-" "You know after my first few missions I used to have pretty bad nightmares too, one night Maine heard me crying and came to check on me, ended up in the exact same position as you actually, so just shut up and deal with it"

"Ha, goodnight Wash," and for once, Tucker fell into a restful sleep. The next day Tucker woke up to find Wash was already gone probably to get ready for the mission. Tucker got ready throwing on his armor and heading to the landing bay. He figured he could sneak onto the ship even if the AI's didn't help him. But when he got there he met with a surprise, The ship wasn't there. "Delta what time did CT say the ship was taking off?" "At 11 am the ship would depart from the Mother of Invention. At 12 they should reach their destination and the mission would start," Tucker checked the time it was only 9 in the morning which meant one thing, Connie had lied to him and now the only thing he could do was wait till they got back.

* * *

Tucker paced the room, after the fourth hour of waiting he had lost track of time and impatience was evident on his features. He figured they should have been done by now being that they were quote on quote the best of the best. But they weren't and to Tucker that only meant one thing something had gone terribly wrong.

"Delta how long has it been since they left?"

Tucker asked for the hundredth time. "6 hours 42 minutes," before Tucker could reply the door was slammed open startling Tucker who quickly regained his composure. "Wash?" Wash just walked past him and threw his helmet, leaving it on the ground. From the hallway, Tucker could feel fast approaching footsteps, and knowing that Wash wasn't in the best of moods he ran to shut the door locking it as it closed. Not long after there was a light knocking at the door. "Wash buddy come on open up," York said from the other side of the door. Tucker looked down the hallway to see Wash sitting on his bed with his arms on his head. Yep. Definitely not the time to be having this conversation. "Come on kid, it's better to talk then hide in your room". While North said this Tucker had quietly padded over and shut Wash's door, he could only guess what had happened and knew that Wash needed to sort through it himself.

"No offense to you guys or anything but I don't think that's what he wants," there was a brief pause and he could here York swear under his breath.

"Tucker, open this door right now." Tucker could hear the deadly tone that York had in his voice and deciding that it was probably not in his best interest to open that door he quickly moved away from it. Not a moment later there was a large bang on the door rattling the door frame Tucker could only assume that York was ramming his shoulder into it to try and open it.

"See you guy’s later okay?" Tucker said casually. There was yelling coming from the door but he ignored it and went into the small kitchenette that the room had. He rummaged through it for a minute before finding what he wanted. Grabbing to mugs and turning on the kettle he poured the packets of hot chocolate into the mugs and then patiently waited for the water to boil. From Wash's room he heard a loud crash and if he listened carefully Tucker was sure he heard quiet sobs. Grabbing one of the mugs he quietly walked over to the room and opened the door.

The first thing he noticed was the broken lamp on the ground that had previously been on the bedside table that explained the crash. The second thing Tucker noticed was Wash huddled on his bed. Placing the mug on the table he carefully made his way over to Wash. "Wash," Tucker said while shaking his shoulder gently. There was no reaction but Tucker kept going.

"Hey what happened? Come on man, I can't help if I don't know what's going on," slowly Wash uncurled himself and Tucker waited patiently for him to organize his thoughts. "I don't- I don't," Wash didn't finish his sentence before breaking down into sobs again. Tucker pulled him into a hug and let him cry into his shoulder. After a while, Wash had calmed down enough and he pulled away to look at Tucker.

"Maine was injured, really badly. I'm not sure he's going to make it and- and I just feel so helpless if I had done more..."

"Whoa, okay hold up. Maine made his own decisions, none of that is your fault and two big guys going to be fine, it looks like it would take a lot more to take him out so just trust that he'll pull through this," Wash stared at him for a moment almost looking like he was searching for something and Tucker assumed he found what he was looking for as Wash nodded a moment later.

"What do we do now?" Wash asked after a while of awkward silence. Tucker rubbed the back of his neck looking sheepish.

"Maybe talk to North and York they seemed really concerned earlier and I kinda ignored them so..." Wash got up and strode out of the room Tucker following behind him.

"I don't know how long I'll be gone cause those guys can be pretty protective but I'll head back as soon as I can," Wash paused at the door.

"Why don't you check on Maine while you're at it, I need to do something anyway so," Wash gave him a small nod before exiting and soon after, Tucker left as well. Going through the hall he knocked on Connie's living quarter’s door and waited for an answer. He didn't have to wait long, Carolina stood in front of it an angry expression on her face. "What?" she said rudely and if Tucker hadn't known her better he probably would have been angry.

"Is Connie here?" He asked keeping a neutral tone in his voice.

"Why?"

"Cause I need to talk to her why else?" Carolina was about to give him a sarcastic reply when Connie pushed her way into view of the door. Her eyes were red making it obvious she had been crying but Tucker wasn't going to mention it.

"What do you need?" She asked. Beside her, Carolina let out a huff of annoyance. Tucker eyed Carolina before looking back to Connie, taking the cue Connie pushed her way out of the room.

"Be back in a bit boss," They both heard Carolina protest as they walked away from the room. Once they were far enough away and in a deserted hallway Connie stopped.

"So?" She asked crossing her arms.

"You lied to me," Tucker said defensively. Connie rolled her eyes.

"Of course I did, I had no way of knowing what you were saying was the truth and not to mention if you had snuck onto the ship you could have ruined everything I wasn't going to ruin this whole operation on one guy's hunch"

“Yeah and that went so well for you now didn't it?" Tucker regretted what he said the moment he saw the hurt flicker across her eyes but continued on.

"Now Maine's hurt like I said he would be and he'll be fine by the way well for a while anyways..." Connie avoided looking at him as he said this.

"I know but I had to be sure you were telling the truth obviously you are and now that really leaves us with the question of what do we do now?"

"I think we should tell Tex,"

"Are you crazy the minute she knows you're not one of us she'll go straight to the director and your ass will be as good as gone," "Connie we’re running out of time, it's not like we have a lot of options anyways it's either we tell her or nothing's going to change and believe me the future needs changing" "And what exactly should we tell her Tucker? I'm a rebel and you're from the future. First, she's going to have me arrested and second she's going to get you arrested, she's not going to believe anything you'll say!"

"You're right. I'm not,"


	8. I'm not the enemy here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are people here I want to help, you included if you'll let me,"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey i know its been a while you guys and honestly I don't know why it took so long to get this chapter out but i hope you guys like it. ii'll do my best to update when I can since its summer break for me. anyways please enjoy and read and review. :)

Immediately Tucker took a step back. The AI's practically screeching in his head. He grabbed the wall to support himself as an intense pain shot through his head.   
"SHUT UP!"   
"I didn't say anything," Tex replied nonchalantly as she got closer to him. Connie grabs a knife from her pocket even though she knew it wouldn't do much. 

"Wasn't talking to you Tex, no offense but the guys in my head can get a little out of hand sometimes,"   
"So you're crazy then? I'm bringing both of you in let's go-"

"Wait if I can prove... if I can prove I'm from the future then will you help us?" Tex paused for a moment halting her movements towards him before continuing but it gave Tucker enough time to react. 

"Delta, could use some help, uh maybe the others too. You know what, why don't all of you come out here?" Tex grabbed the both of them Tucker not bothering to struggle while Connie tried to get out of her grasps. An explosion of colours appeared in front of Tex. It was enough to disorient her, giving Tucker enough time to pull out of her grasp. 

"Please Tex, just hear me out. There are people here I want to help, you included if you'll let me," Tex stared at him a moment before letting out a long tired sigh. Then made a motion with her hands to indicate him to continue. 

"You're... you're an AI Tex, I know that probably sounds hard to believe but it's true. You were made after Alpha, another AI. He's my... he was my best friend but then some shit happened and well, he died again only to leave behind Epsilon, another AI, who kind of fucked with Wash's head and well some of you died and I'm just trying to change that-"

"I believe you,"

"Because I really care about Wash, and the blues and reds and you too- wait you believe me?" Tucker gave her an incredulous look, Connie looked at her skeptically.

"Yeah I believe you," 

"Why?" Connie asked before Tucker could. 

"Do you think I'm stupid? The director treats me differently than all of you. Not to mention I can't take off my helmet, so what do we have to do to fix your future?" Connie and Tucker looked at each other unsure of what to do. 

"Look if I was going to rat you out, your ass would already be handed to the director and I would wipe my hands clean, I can't help if I don't know what's going on," 

"You know she's right about that Tucker, besides statistically speaking we have a 90% chance of success if she were to help," Tex stared at Delta for a moment and Tucker seemed to deflate a little he knew Delta was right, Tex was the most badass of all the freelancers. 

"Well in my future, Connie takes off because the suspicion of her being a rebel has turned into a confirmation so she leaves with her armor, but since it's an asset to project freelancer you guys went looking for her. All I know is you and Carolina went after her and came back empty handed," Tex nods and glances at Connie for confirmation. 

"So All Connie has to do then is leave her armor here then," 

"If I don't wear the suit on the mission it's going to be suspicious and I can't leave the suit there because then I'm left unprotected in a war zone," Tex contemplated this for a moment. 

"So then I just have to make sure Carolina or I don't kill you," there was a snort from Tucker. 

"That's easier said than done Tex, she's not going to listen to reason, especially from you," 

"I can do it, we're easily on the same playing field and at most I just need to make sure Connie has enough time to get out of here right?" Tucker nodded his head in confirmation.

"Is there anything else I need to know or can help with?" Tucker paused for a minute it wasn't something that necessarily was important but. 

"If there's any way you can make sure that Maine doesn't get an AI it's appreciated," both freelancers looked at Tucker.

"It's too late for that. Carolina gave up Sigma for him once we landed and found out he'd be stable, I think it was a guilt thing," Tucker swore and shook his head. 

"Its fine then don't worry about it," 

"Tucker-" Tex began but was cut off.

"Don't- Delta said there were only a few things we could change anyway, there's one more thing you could do for me though,"

"Can you just check on the reds and blues? I'll send you their names, just make sure they're okay with all of this shit going on. I don't know if anything changed for them," Tex nodded her head.

"I better get going, the director will start to wonder where I am if I don't, talk to you guys soon," Tex walked nonchalantly back the way she came and Tucker let out a sigh. 

"We should go too. Carolina's already suspicious of me and you, we shouldn't make it any worse," 

"Yeah sure. Just going to check on Wash first and then I'll head straight back to my room," Connie's eyebrow raised but she didn't say anything and began walking down the hallway pausing only for a moment.

"Med bay is on the second floor, just keep going left once you get there and you should be fine," 

"Second floor, thanks, Connie" 

After nearly an hour of searching for an elevator to get to the second floor, he somehow made it there but luck didn't happen to be on his side. 

"Tucker," a soft but firm voice called. Without even looking he knew it was North who had called out to him and he knew under the gentle voice there was an undercurrent of a threat. For a moment Tucker debated on running for it down the hall to deal with the issue later before deciding against it. He turned only to be met with a fist to his face. Pain flashed through his nose for a split second but he didn't have time to worry about it as he dodged another punch to his face. He backed up a bit bringing his hands up in a defensive position like Wash had taught him. Waiting for another strike that never came. 

"What the fuck York? I thought we were just going to talk to him not kick his ass!"

"Yeah well, I changed my mind. The asshole had it coming after what he did," 

"Could you not just hit everything once you're mad?" Tucker let out a small laugh at that and both men turned to him with a glare, he shut up real quick after that. 

"What's so funny Tucker," There was enough malice in his voice for Tucker to hesitate for a second. 

"It's just, you and Carolina are a lot alike you know," there's a beat of silence before North starts to laugh.

"North, this is not the time for that!" York said as he became flustered. 

"But it's true though, sometimes you act like her," the two began to bicker and Tucker quietly inched his way towards the next corridor to make his escape. He was about to turn down the adjacent hall when North finally noticed he had moved. Tucker bolted only hearing one of them loudly say, son of a bitch, before they followed him. Tucker wasn't stupid, he knew he couldn't outsmart them in their own territory but he knew if he at least got to the infirmary that they probably wouldn't risk pissing off the nurses. Probably. 

But he didn't know how far he was from the med bay and after taking another turn he was starting to wonder if he had made the right choice. One more turn and he was faced with a dead end. 

"Shit,"  
\-----------------------------  
"End of the line Tucker," York called in a taunt. "well Tucker thought "if I'm going to get the shit beat out of me might as well go down swinging". He turned gauging whether or not the distance was too great for him to make the first hit, deciding that it wasn't he lunged and swung his fist up taking York by surprise, he then sidestepped out of the way to avoid any incoming hits. But none, North held York back and held a hand up in a placating gesture. 

"York, you deserved that from earlier and I swear Tucker we er, well I just wanted to talk about earlier," Tucker stared at him for a moment before lowering his arms. 

"And what exactly do you want to talk about? He punched me in the face, that fucking hurt asshole!"

"Wash is our friend, our teammate first and foremost and we don't appreciate you locking him up to deal with things alone," North said having the threatening undertone back in his voice. York had gone limp in his arms the fight seems to drain out of him.

"But he wasn't dealing with it alone I was-" 

"You wanted to help him I get that but we don't know you and Wash is one of our newest recruits. You happened to take a liking to him far more than the rest of us, so naturally we were worried and you doing this didn't help any we thought you wanted to do something nefarious to him," North paused for a moment giving Tucker a moment to mull this over, connecting to his strange behavior of the last few weeks. In hindsight it made sense Tucker had appeared out of nowhere and knew a bunch of information about the freelancers that no outsider would, it could look like he was a spy trying to gain more info about them. 

"I wouldn't, I wouldn't do anything so, don't try and cut me off okay? I'm going to explain just give me a sec?" The both of them looked at him expectantly as he tried to stay as true to the truth as possible without giving too much away. 

"He... he reminds me a lot of someone I care... cared about a lot, I couldn't hurt him even if I wanted to. Is that good enough for you?" Tucker knew his voice was shaky as he said this, realizing that once he got back to his time Wash wouldn't be waiting for him, but even with this emotional comment North and York looked at him unimpressed and he knew he'd have to tell them more. He covered his face with his hands for a moment, they were shaking when he pulled them back to his sides. 

"He reminds me of my fiancé okay? He died before I was brought here and sometimes when I see Wash it's like seeing him again okay? Is that enough for you or do you want something else too cause quite frankly... I can't... I can't," Tucker didn't get through the rest of his sentence as he turned around trying to keep a shred of his dignity as he broke down and cried, the painful memories of that day resurfacing. A sob broke free from him. 

"He's gone?" he said quietly a moment later more to himself than the other two, as he gained some of his composure back. He felt a hand on both of his shoulders and glanced over to see their sympathetic looks. 

"I'm sorry we didn't mean for you to have to remember that so soon if we had known-" 

"But you didn't and that's not your fault, I'm not exactly an open book here but can you cut me some slack? Trust me when I say I'm not the enemy here," North gave him a small smile before simply nodding his head.

"I feel like such an asshole right now, fuck Tucker I'm sorry I punched you, to think that, that was the reason, I'm such a dick," 

"Yeah you are, but you wanted to keep your friend safe. I can understand that, there's a ton of people I want to keep safe back home too so you're off the hook for that right hook earlier," 

"Fair enough, besides you got me back pretty good... thanks for helping Wash out earlier and we'll tell the others to back off from you too okay," 

"Sounds like a fair trade," they let go of Tucker's shoulders as he turned around to face them. He was met with kind smiles and warm eyes. 

"You know I came down here to check on Wash, he said he was going to check on Maine but I don't exactly know where the med bay is so..." he trailed off waiting for them to pick up where he left off the two looked over at each other surprise in their eyes. 

"Didn't Connie bring you here? After that big headache you had?" North asked.

"Yeah but I was kind of out of it I may have downplayed it so Wash wouldn't freak out," 

"Well Wash left here about an hour ago, we came with him to see Maine we figured you knew," 

"No I was with Connie earlier, we were talking," they gave a hum in acknowledgment. Tucker moved passed them starting to make his way back, the two followed him.

"So I'd uh really appreciate it if you don't mention what you just saw to anybody ever if that's okay. Especially Wash," he heard a small chuckle come from behind him and Tucker could feel heat spread across his cheeks. 

"Your secrets safe with us Tucker" they quietly walked back to the rooms after that. As they arrived down the hallway, they saw Carolina silently walking down the opposite end of the hall in full gear, York let out a sigh.   
"I'm going to have to keep an eye on her tonight," North only nodded. As Tucker unlocked the door, he could see a bit of apprehension on North's face. As Tucker passed through the threshold of the door North stopped him.   
"What was his name?" Tucker paused and glanced at both of them seeing curiosity in their eyes.   
"David, his name was David"


End file.
